Just life

I think Kelley summed it up when he said 'I make this look good'

My poor guy...he's been working so hard to get this new emissions store open....

Every day after he finishes his regular job, he heads down to American Fork to work on the building...then usually gets home about 10:00.

I ran down the canal road this morning. Got two more bags of garbage. I ran on Tuesday too...made the mistake of picking up this big piece of cardboard wrapping stuff/ It pretty much filled up one of my bags...then there were lots of half drunk bottles of water, Gatorade, pop...I didn't want to touch them to dump them out so I just put them in my bag. It got real heavy. By the time I got about half way back to my house, my bags were full and I was about dragging them down the road. Then this guy comes driving by in a city truck and stops and tells me that they had just sprayed the weeds on the sides of the road, so to be careful not to touch them. Ha! I had been walking right through them digging out trash! I told him and he said, "well just wash your hands good when you get home, and don't touch your eyes!" I guess it's like Kelley always says...."No good deed goes unpunished"

I was surprised to see how quick the beans came up. The garden is growing really fast right now. I guess planting late didn't really make that much difference. I picked 3 big zucchinis. mmmmmmmm zucchini bread!

Garden is so pretty now...

This rose is at moms. I went up yesterday to do the irrigation. The water turn started at 6:04 am, so I was planning on going up the night before, but we were putting together the chicken enchiladas for girls camp and didn't get done with that till about 8:30, so I decided to wait till morning to head up there.

I got up about 4:30 and got on my way by about 5:00.
I went right up and turned the water in, then followed it down the canal to make sure it got to moms house. I had to open a few gates on the way down and shut it off from the house on the corner...water stealer. Teina said she really had to go the rounds with this lady this last irrigation time. She just turns the water into her back yard when ever it is coming down the ditch. So Teina changed the gates so the water would come to moms. A short time later, she notices the water is barely coming so she walks up there and sure enough, she has changed it back to come to her house. We have asked her to please not do that while we are having our turn. She is like "oh I didn't know you were using it...ok" Then about an hour later, we will notice the water flow has slowed way down again so we walk back up the canal and see that she has turned it back into her yard again. AGGRAVATION! I mean seriously, what is wrong with this woman? This has been going on for years and we have complained to the city many times, but it doesn't seem to do any good. Well after this happened last time, Teina called Providence city and they said they would let the water master know what was going on. I think they must have talked to her because aside from the first time I had to turn it out of her yard when I started, she didn't touch it!

You hear stories about people fighting over water rights and think does that really happen? Well it really does. People are pretty passionate about it too. I know for mom's yard, it takes the whole 9 hours to get the place irrigated, and that is without doing the garden. Daddy had it down to a science though and would get every part of the yard and the big garden covered. The irrigation turn comes any time of the day and night, and I remember many times he would be out there with a flashlight in the middle of the night, hauling pipes around.

I found a few old (and pretty fuzzy) pictures of the cousins playing in the water ...sweet!

Sure do miss my dad. Walking around the yard, waiting for the water to move gives you a lot of time to think. Different memories of him would surface in each area of the yard.

The back yard used to have a great orchard there with all different kinds of fruit trees. ...Macintosh, Yellow delicious, Jonathan...there was a plum, tree too. I liked the Jonathan best cause they were so tart. We liked to climb the Macintosh tree and would get clear to the top of it. The grass would grow tall under the trees and we would flatten it down in spots and make houses with little pathways that led to each others spot.

Kate, Brad, Julie and Brian

Daddy built the coolest tree house ever in one of the trees in the back yard. I was pretty little when a storm broke the tree and the tree house came down. After that, it was our play house there in the back yard...so many hours of playing dolls and house, with the cute little cupboard that held our little cups and dishes, and picnics on the little table and chairs.... Now mom keeps some gardening things and her canning supplies in it.
There used to be a fence between the orchard and the back yard. I remember it had sweet pea vines growing up it. On warm summer days, daddy would get out the pool and set up the slippery slide against the fence so we could slide right into the water. So much fun! It was great to be able to watch my own kids have fun doing the same thing when we would go to visit grandma and grampa.
Another thing I remember in the back yard was the monkey bars. It was actually a goal post kind of a thing that held the clothes line, but it gave me and my friend Leslie LaPray hours of fun! We learned lots of gymnastic kind of tricks we could do on them and would put on shows for anyone who would watch.

Candice and Denise

I don't ever remember being bored at home...there was always something to do. Daddy made the coolest swing for us down by the garage. He hung a big fat rope up in one of the tallest trees so we could really have a fun swing! We would climb up on top of daddy's truck and jump off and go sailing clear out over the road. What a thrill!

The drive way holds a lot of memories for me too. From riding the big blue tricycle, to roller skating, to hop scotch, to just sprawling out on the warm cement in our swim suits after playing in the irrigation water. The big maple tree that hung over the driveway supplied the twirly green seed pods that we would open up and stick on our noses.

The lawn down by the flag pole brings back memories of daddy putting up the flag in the morning and taking it down at night. I used to love to walk out there with him in the evening and help him fold the flag. He had the utmost respect and reverence for the flag and taught me the same.

In the east corner of the lot, there is a little sidewalk that goes up through the big pine trees. It goes to a gate that leads out to the road. I walked up through there every day on my way to school or to my friend Donnette's house. It was a cute little pathway in the day...hydrangeas blooming on the sides, but at night, it was really creepy. The trees hung way over and made it dark and scary. I would see the front porch light from the gate and would run as fast as I could go to the front door....just knowing there was something chasing me all the way!

We used to play kick the can and other night games out on the north lawn by the old house. All the neighbor kids would show up just after dark on those warm summer nights. Those were fun times! Then in the winter, daddy used to flood that lawn with water and it would freeze over for an ice skating pond. Bumpy but so fun!

The north lawn was where Bruce's band used to set up and practice too. I thought it was pretty cool to listen to them...especially Bruce cause he was the drummer. He would sit me up on his stool and hand me the drum sticks and let me play them sometimes. I liked to hit the pedal that banged the big drum in the middle.

When we wanted to throw out a blanket and lay on the lawn, we would go up east of the gazebo. There was always a shady spot and you were right in the middle of all the flower beds. They were immaculate too. Mum and daddy put so much time and effort into planning and planting and tending their flowers. They won many awards for their beautiful yard and it was a real source of joy to them to keep it looking so like that. We used to get bored of all the home movies they would take of their flowers, but now I get it.

Boy, I am really rambling...haven't even got into my visit with mom. She was having a pretty rough day when I was there. I was out irrigating for a few hours, and would come in and check on her , but she was still sound asleep, so I just let her sleep. About nine, I checked in on her and she stirred around a little bit so I went in and sat on her bed. She woke up and seemed kind of disoriented. She had a real hard time getting up out of bed. Her legs were just so weak and shaky. I finally got her down to the bathroom and she just seemed exhausted....which was bad because then I had to get her into the shower. I hated to have to put her through it, but she had to get cleaned up. It was hard to see her like this. She just seemed sad to have to have me help her like that. I assured her that I didn't mind at all and was glad to be there with her. When we were walking back into the east room, her legs gave out and she went right down. I was standing right next to her holding one arm, but it didn't do any good. Her legs just buckled. She said sometimes that happens, and she has to crawl to the couch. WHAT???

I picked her up and put her on the chair in the kitchen. She sat there for most of the day. This is not working...somethings' got to change. I asked her again if she would come stay with me. Oh how I wish she would. She says she can't do it...who would take care of her house? Oh dear.

I finished the irrigation about 4:00 and came in and did some things around her house....laundry, making her bed up again, garbage, dishes, tidying up. After we ate a little dinner, I got on my way home. Pretty tough to leave her like this, but I knew the home health lady would be by to help her get to bed. I'm sure grateful for what they do for her. Reading over their notes, I can see that she is not easy and they really do a lot for her. They can only keep it up as long as she is mobile though, and she is getting to where she really needs someone on both sides of her to hold her up. I wish so much I was closer so I could do more...